ITN 'warned'about dangers of Iraq'

Monday 9 January 2006 00:10 BST

ITN was warned that the area where Terry Lloyd and his team were operating was "very dangerous" the day before he was killed, the inquest into his death heard.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Partridge, deputy director of the Coalition Press Information Centre (CPIC) for the second Gulf War, told the inquest he had warned an ITN producer that "it would be safer to drink two bottles of whisky and drive the wrong way down the M4" than pass through the Kuwaiti demilitarised zone into southern Iraq.

He said in meetings with editors before the conflict began, "it was made crystal clear that it was very very dangerous" to report from the area since it would be a "fast-moving, mechanised battle".

He also contradicted suggestions by former ITN chief executive Stewart Purvis that the British Army were against unilateral reporters - those who operate independently rather than being "embedded" with, or operating alongside, specific units.

He said: "I would say (the unilaterals) were encouraged. Our function was to facilitate the press."

Earlier, a cameraman told of the terrifying moment when "all hell broke loose" and he found himself in the middle of a gun fight which killed his colleague, Terry Lloyd.

Daniel Demoustier, a Belgian national, told the Oxford inquest that he was convinced he was going to die as American tanks opened fire on the ITN convoy as it approached Basra in southern Iraq on March 22, 2003.

The team had crossed from the Kuwaiti border to travel independently of coalition forces and interview civilians about their feelings in the first few days of the conflict.

Instead, they found themselves caught up in fierce fighting between Iraqi and American troops.

Mr Lloyd and Lebanese interpreter Hussein Osman died in the incident while French cameraman Fred Nerac is still officially missing.